Featured

Review: The North Face Long Way Home

At $125, The North Face’s “Long Way Home” jacket is a hell of a value. It’s also a smartly-designed product: highly breathable, incredibly comfortable and, thanks to its removable sleeves, extremely versatile. An ideal jacket for cross-country rides in fall and spring conditions.

All accessories

Tested: WTB MotoRaptor 2.4

02.01.2005

WHAT: Wilderness Trail Bikes MotoRaptor 2.4 Race WHERE: wtb.com HOW MUCH: $45 per tire WTB makes the MotoRaptor in three different sizes: the 2.14, 2.24 and 2.4-inch models. I’ve spent a solid season aboard the 2.4 Race version (folding bead) and have become a believer. I’m a fan of large-volume tires (up front, at least) [...]

+ more

Test: FRS Plus Sports Drink

01.07.2005

FRS Plus: It’s not the same old sugar-water cost: $22.95 (16-ounce bottle) contact: frsplus.com; (877) 377-4968 Free Radicals aren’t the mullet-sporting, rightwing, militia-type activists many people think they are—but they are every bit as dangerous. The by-products of hard exertion, free radicals are essentially molecules that float freely through your body, latching onto, and damaging, [...]

+ more

Yakima HitchFork Rack and King Cobra Mounts

09.17.2003

Cost: $300 for HitchFork; $125 for Cobra Contact: 888-925-0703; www.yakima.com Shuttle riders and road-trippers can appreciate a good bike rack, and Yakima’s new HitchFork hitch rack is worthy enough to satisfy them-and anyone else who has to transport bikes to the trailhead. The HitchFork mounts to 2-inch receiver hitches easily and comes with locking hardware [...]

+ more

Tested: Kenda Karma DTC

07.03.2003

Cost: $45 Contact: 866-536-3287; www.kendausa.com In a perfect world, we’d all have tires that grip like 2.5-inch knobbies and roll as fast as semi-slicks, but life is cruel and we’re forced to settle somewhere in between. The new Kenda Karma DTC (Dual Tread Compound) tires are the latest attempt to solve this dilemma. Low weight [...]

+ more

TESTED: Morningstar R2.O.C.-TECH

01.09.2003

Morningstar Tooling Products R2.O.C.-TECH Cost: $98 Phone: 760-379-2133 Like the wheel, disc-brake rotors can be out of true, which affects performance. More often than not, this causes the rider to go mad from the horrific squeals let loose from a bent disc rubbing on the brake pads. You can use the eyeball method of spinning [...]

+ more

Tested: Chris King Coffee

09.16.2002

Chris King Precision Blend Premium CoffeeCost: 1-pound bag, $14; 3/4-pound tin, $29Phone: 800-523-6008Web site:

+ more

Tested: Park Tool TW1 and TW2 Torque Wrenches

05.29.2002

Park TW-1 and TW-2 WrenchesCost: TW-1, $42; TW-2, $51 Phone: 651-777-6868 Web site: www.parktool.com Technology is generally a good thing. In the world of the mountain bike, it has given us better-gripping tires, more efficient suspension and new, lightweight materials. These advances have necessitated change in the way we approach servicing the bike — specifically, [...]

+ more

TESTED: Ortlieb Velocity Pack

05.29.2002

Ortlieb Velocity Pack Price: $95 Contact: 253-833-3939,

+ more

Gear: Honest Tea

05.29.2002

$1-$1.50800-865-4736www.honesttea.com A friend of mine once told me that he helped two girls quit drinking soda by submerging a pork chop in cola. After one week, the pork chop had dissolved and the only thing left was sludge and two disgusted ladies. I don’t know if the story is true or not, but I do [...]

+ more

Gear: Magic Eight Ball

05.29.2002

Price: $10Contact: Any novelty store near you The future. Destiny. Fate. Deep down, most of us would like to be able to predict if we’ll win the lottery, get lucky tonight or rear-end Mike Tyson at a stoplight. Unfortunately, looking for answers from a Magic Eight Ball will tell you jack-shit. Well, maybe it will [...]

+ more